Architectural Covering Control Pairing With Live Position Feedback
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Solution Overview
Problem
Configuring user devices to remotely control architectural structural coverings, such as blinds and shades, is challenging due to the difficulty in determining which controls are initially connected to which coverings, especially in large buildings with multiple rooms, often requiring trial and error.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a system where user devices provide a user interface that detects nearby coverings through broadcast signals, offering real-time updates including covering IDs and positions, allowing users to easily identify and configure control pairings, and enabling simultaneous changes to multiple covering positions for efficient setup.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If trial and error method is used to configure control pairings, then control functionality can be established, but time consumption increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides real-time visual feedback by displaying a representation of the architectural structural covering on the user interface that moves synchronously with the actual covering. When the covering moves to different positions, the representation updates accordingly, giving users immediate confirmation of control pairing without trial and error.
Solution Approach 2:
The system automatically detects nearby coverings through broadcast signals and initiates the pairing process without requiring manual configuration. The covering itself provides identification information through broadcast signals, enabling automatic recognition and reducing manual setup effort.
2Measurement precision
If individual control pairing is performed for each covering, then precise control mapping is achieved, but setup complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system combines multiple coverings into a single selectable group on the user interface. Users can select multiple coverings at once and control them together, merging the configuration process for multiple individual coverings into a single unified operation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a visual representation (copy) of the architectural structural covering on the user interface that mirrors the actual covering's position and movement. This representation serves as a visual duplicate that simplifies the pairing process by providing an on-screen reference that matches the physical covering.
3Measurement precision
If users physically move between coverings to identify pairings, then accurate control mapping is established, but operational efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The system creates a visual representation of each covering on the user interface that displays the covering's current position and movement state. Users can identify and pair controls by observing the on-screen representation rather than physically moving between coverings, maintaining identification accuracy while improving efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The user interface acts as an intermediary between the user and the physical coverings. Instead of directly interacting with physical coverings located throughout the building, users interact with virtual representations on the screen, which then communicate with the actual coverings through the system.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for configuring a user device to remotely control a plurality of architectural structural coverings are described. A user device receives a plurality of broadcast signals from a plurality of architectural structural coverings. Each individual broadcast signal is associated with an individual architectural structural covering and relays position information for the individual architectural structural covering. Each broadcast signal is also associated with an individual entry in a list of entries displayed on a user interface of the user device. Each entry comprises a representation of an architectural structural covering having a displayed position that matches position information from the broadcast signal and a position control for controlling a physical position of the associated architectural structural covering. When a user adjusts the position via the position control, an adjusted position instruction is sent to the associated architectural structural covering. The displayed position of the representation on the UI is changed to mirror a change in the physical position of the architectural structural covering as the user device observes broadcast position data from the architectural structural covering.